The
Revised and Enhanced History of Joseph Smith by His Mother
Edited by Scot Facer Proctor and Maurine Jensen Proctor
Chapter
16
The
Smiths move to Norwich, Vermont. Three successive years of
crop failures. Removal of the Smith family to Palmyra, New
York. They obtain one hundred acres of virgin land. Lucy goes
to tea with neighbors in Palmyra. Record of Joseph Smith Sr.’s
third and sixth visions: the vision of the beautiful garden
with twelve wooden images; the vision of going to meeting
on the Day of Judgment.
Spring
1814 to spring 1819
When
health returned to us, it found us, as may well be supposed,
in very low circumstances. Sickness, with all its attendant
expenses of nurses, medical attendants, and other necessary
articles, reduced us so that we were now compelled to make
arrangements for going into some kind of business to provide
for present wants, rather than future prospects, as we had
previously contemplated.
My
husband now determined to change his residence. Accordingly,
we moved to Norwich in Vermont [1] and established ourselves
on a farm belonging to Squire Moredock. The first year our
crops failed, and we bought our bread with the proceeds of
the orchard and our own industry. The second year they failed
again. In the ensuing spring, Mr. Smith said that we would
plant once more on this farm, and if he did not succeed better,
we would go to New York, where the farmers raise wheat in
abundance. [2]
This
next year was like the preceding seasons. An untimely frost
blighted the vegetation, and being the third year in succession
in which the crops had failed, it well nigh produced a famine. [3]
This was enough.
Click to Enlarge
The Smith home, barn and farm,
1814-16. Here crop failures would drive them to western New
York.
My
husband was now altogether decided upon going to New York.
One day he came into the house and sat down, and after meditating
some time, he said that could he so arrange his affairs, he
would be glad to start soon for New York with one Mr. Howard,
who was going to Palmyra. “But,” said he, “I cannot leave
or you could not get along without me. Besides, I am owing
some debts that I must pay.”
I
told him I thought that he might call upon both his debtors
and creditors and by so doing make an arrangement between
them that would be satisfactory to all parties. As for the
rest, I thought I could prepare myself and my family to follow
him by the time he might be ready for us. He accordingly called
upon all those with whom he had any dealings and settled up
his accounts with them, but there were some who neglected
to bring forward their books, consequently they were not balanced,
or there were no entries made in them to show the settlement;
but in cases of this kind he called witnesses that there might
be evidence of the fact.
Having
thus arranged his business, Mr. Smith set out for Palmyra,
New York, with Mr. Howard. My sons Alvin and Hyrum followed
their father with a heavy heart some distance. After the departure
of my husband, we toiled faithfully until we considered that
we were fully prepared to leave at a moment’s warning. We
soon received a letter from Mr. Smith requesting us to make
ourselves ready to take up a journey for Palmyra immediately.
A messenger soon arrived with a conveyance for myself and
my family. [4]
As
we were starting out on this journey, several of those gentlemen
who had withheld their books in the time of settlement now
brought them forth and claimed the accounts which had been
settled, and which they had, in the presence of witnesses,
agreed to erase. We were all ready for the journey, and the
teams were waiting on expense. Under these circumstances,
I concluded it would be more to our advantage to pay their
unjust claims than to hazard a lawsuit. Thus I was compelled
to pay 150 dollars out of the means reserved for bearing our
expenses in traveling. This I made shift to do and saved
sixty or eighty dollars for the journey. [5]
A
gentleman by the name of Flagg, a wealthy settler living in
the town of Hanover, also a Mr. Howard, who resided in Norwich,
were both acquainted with the circumstances mentioned above.
They were very indignant at it and requested me to give them
a sufficient time to get the witnesses together, and they
would endeavor to recover that which had been taken from me
by fraud. I told them I could not do so, for my husband had
sent teams for me, which were on expense; moreover, there
was an uncertainty in getting the money back again, and in
case of failure, I should not be able to raise the means necessary
to take the family where we contemplated moving.
They
then proposed raising some money by subscription, saying,
“We know the people feel as we do concerning this matter,
and if you will receive it, we will make you a handsome present.”
This I utterly refused. The idea of receiving assistance in
such a way as this was indeed very repulsive to my feelings,
and I rejected their offer.
We
set out with Mr. Howard, a cousin of the gentleman who traveled
to New York with Mr. Smith. I had prepared a great quantity
of woolen clothing for my children; besides I had on hand
a great deal of diaper and pulled cloth in the web. My mother
was with me. She had been assisting in my preparations for
traveling. She was now returning to her home in Royalton,
where she resided until she died, which was two years afterwards,
in consequence of an injury which she received by getting
upset in a wagon while traveling with us. [6]
When
we arrived there, I had a task to perform which was a severe
trial to my feelings, one to which I shall ever look back
with peculiar sensations that can never be obliterated. I
was here to take leave of that pious and affectionate parent
to whom I was indebted for all the religious instructions
as well as most of the educational privileges which I had
ever received. The parting hour came. My mother wept over
me long and bitterly. She told me that it was not probable
she should ever behold my face again. “But, my dear child,”
said she, “I have lived long. My days are nearly all numbered.
I must soon exchange the things of earth for another state
of existence, where I hope to enjoy the society of the blessed.
And now as my last admonition, I beseech you to continue faithful
in the exercise of every religious duty to the end of your
days, that I may have the pleasure of embracing you in another,
fairer world above.”
Click
to Enlarge
Lucy,
with her children, parted from her mother, Lydia Gates Mack,
here in Royalton, Vermont, not far from this home.
This
parting scene was at one Willard Pierce’s, a tavern keeper.
From his house my mother went to Daniel Mack’s, with whom
she afterwards lived until her decease.
After
this I pursued my journey, but it was only a short time
until I discovered that the man who drove the team in which
we rode was an unprincipled, unfeeling wretch by the manner
in which he handled my goods and money, as well as his treatment
of my children, especially Joseph. This child was compelled
by Mr. Howard to travel for miles at a time on foot, though
he was still somewhat lame. [7] We bore patiently with repeated aggravations
until we came twenty miles west of Utica, when one morning
we were preparing as usual for starting on the day’s journey.
My oldest son came to me and said, “Mother, Mr. Howard has
thrown the goods out of the wagon and is about getting off
with the team.” I told him to call the man in. I met him
in the barroom, where there was a large company of travelers,
both male and female, and I demanded his reason for such
a procedure. He answered that the money which I had given
him was all exhausted and he could go no farther.
I
turned to those present and said, “Gentlemen and ladies,
please give me your attention for a moment. Now, as there
is a God in heaven, that wagon and horses, as well as the
goods that accompany them, are mine. This man is determined
to take away from me every means of proceeding on my journey,
leaving me with eight little children, utterly destitute.
But I forbid you, Mr. Howard, from driving one step with
my wagon or horses. And here I declare that the teams, goods,
and children, with myself, shall go together to my husband
and their father. As for you, sir, I have no use for you,
and you can ride or walk the rest of the way as you please;
but I shall take charge of my own affairs.” [8] I then proceeded on my way, and in
a short time I arrived in Palmyra with a small portion of
my effects, my babes, and two cents in money, but perfectly
happy in the society of my family. [9]
The
joy I felt in throwing myself and my children upon the care
and affection of a tender husband and father doubly paid
me for all I had suffered. The children surrounded their
father, clinging to his neck, covering his face with tears
and kisses that were heartily reciprocated by him.
We
all now sat down and maturely counseled together as to what
course it was best to take, and how we should proceed to
business in our then destitute circumstances. It was agreed
by each one of us that it was most advisable to apply all
our energies together and endeavor to obtain a piece of
land, as this was then a new country and land was low, being
in its rude state. But it was almost a time of famine. Wheat
was $2.70 per bushel and other things in proportion. “How
shall we,” said my husband, “be able to sustain ourselves
and have anything left to buy land?” I had done considerable
at painting oilcloth coverings for tables, stands, etc.
Therefore, I concluded to set up a business, and if prospered,
I would try to supply the wants of the family. In this I
succeeded so well that it was not long until we not only
had an abundance of good and wholesome provision, but I
soon began to replenish my household furniture, a fine stock
of which I had sacrificed entirely in moving.
My
husband and our two oldest sons, Alvin and Hyrum, set themselves
about raising the means of paying for one hundred acres
of land for which Mr. Smith had contracted with a land agent.
In one year’s time, we made nearly all of the first payment. [10] The agent advised us
to build a log house on the land and commence clearing it.
We did so, and it was not long until we had thirty acres
ready for cultivation. [11]
Now
the second payment was coming due, and we had no means as
yet of meeting it. Alvin accordingly proposed that his father
should take the business at home in his entire charge, “whilst,”
he said, “I will go abroad to see if I cannot make the second
payment and the remainder of the first.” By my son’s persevering
industry, he was able to return to us after much labor,
suffering, and fatigue with the necessary amount of money
for all except the last payment. In two years from the time
we entered Palmyra, strangers, destitute of friends, home,
or employment, we were able to settle ourselves upon our
own land in a snug, comfortable though humble habitation,
built and neatly finished by our own industry. [12]
If
we might judge by any collateral manifestation, we had every
reason to believe that we had many good and affectionate
friends, for never have I seen more kindness or attention
shown to any person or family than we received from those
around us. Again we began to rejoice in our prosperity,
and our hearts glowed with gratitude to God for the manifestations
of his favor that surrounded us.
I
shall change my theme for the present, but let not my reader
suppose that because I shall pursue another topic for a
season that we stopped our labor. We never during our lives
suffered one important interest to swallow up every other
obligation, but whilst we worked with our hands we endeavored
to remember the service of and the welfare of our souls.
Permit
me here to relate a little circumstance, by way of illustration,
of a friend of mine having invited several of her associates
to take tea with her one afternoon. [13] She also sent an urgent
request for me to call on her with the rest. The ladies
invited were some wealthy merchants’ wives and the minister’s
lady. We spent the time quite pleasantly, each seeming to
enjoy those reciprocal feelings which render the society
of our friends delightful to us.
When
tea was served up, we were proffering some good-natured
remarks to each other when one lady observed, “Well, I declare,
Mrs. Smith ought not to live in that log house of hers any
longer. She deserves a better fate, and I say she must have
a new house.”
“So
she should,” said another, “for she is so kind to everyone.
She ought to have the best of everything.”
“Ladies,”
said I, “thank you for your compliments, but you are quite
mistaken. I will show you that I am the wealthiest woman
that sits at this table.”
“Well,”
said they, “now make that appear.”
“Now
mark,” I answered them. “I have never prayed for the riches
of this world as perhaps you have, but I have always desired
that God would enable me to use enough wisdom and forbearance
in my family to set a good example before my children, whose
lives I always besought the Lord to spare, as also to secure
the confidence and affection of my husband. I have hoped
that we, acting together in the education and instruction
of our children, might in our old age reap the reward of
circumspection and parental tenderness—that is, the pleasure
of seeing our children signify their father’s name by an
upright and honorable course of conduct in life.
“I
have been gratified so far in all this, and though I have
to this time suffered many disagreeable disappointments
in life with regard to property, I now find myself as comfortably
situated as any of you are. What we have has not been obtained
at the expense or the comfort of any human being. We owe
no man; we never distressed any man, which circumstance
almost invariably attends the mercantile life, so I have
no reason to envy those who are so engaged.”
To
the minister’s lady, I said, “I ask you how many nights
of the week you are kept awake with anxiety about your sons
who are in habitual attendance on the grog shop and gambling
house.” They all said, with a look that showed conviction,
“Mrs. Smith, you have established the fact.”
Reader,
I merely relate this that you may draw a moral therefrom
that may be useful to you.
In
the spring after we moved onto the farm, we commenced making
maple sugar, of which we averaged one thousand pounds per
year. We then began to make preparations for building a
house. The land agent of whom we purchased our farm was
dead, and we could not make the last payment. We also planted
a large orchard and made every possible preparation for
ease when advanced age should deprive us of the ability
to make those physical exertions of which we were then capable.
I
shall now deviate a little from my subject, in order to
relate another very singular dream which my husband had
about this time, which is as follows: [14]
“I
dreamed,” said he, “that I was traveling on foot, and I
was very sick, and so lame I could hardly walk. My guide,
as usual, attended me. Traveling some time together, I became
so lame that I thought I could go no farther. I informed
my guide of this and asked him what I should do. He told
me to travel on till I came to a certain garden. So I arose
and started for this garden. While on my way thither, I
asked my guide how I should know the place. He said, ‘Proceed
until you come to a very large gate; open this and you will
see a garden, blooming with the most beautiful flowers that
your eyes ever beheld, and there you shall be healed.’
“By
limping along with great difficulty, I finally reached the
gate; and, on entering it, I saw the before-mentioned garden,
which was beautiful beyond description, being filled with
the most delicate flowers of every kind and color. In the
garden were walks about three and a half feet wide, which
were set on both sides with marble stones. One of the walks
ran from the gate through the center of the garden; and
on each side of this was a very richly carved seat, and
on each seat were placed six wooden images, each of which
was the size of a very large man. When I came to the first
image on the right side, it arose and bowed to me with much
deference. I then turned to the one which sat opposite me,
on the left side, and it arose and bowed to me in the same
manner as the first. I continued turning, first to the right
and then to the left, until the whole twelve had made their
obeisance, after which I was entirely healed.
“I
then asked my guide the meaning of all this, but I awoke
before I received an answer.”
The
scripture which saith, “Your old men shall dream dreams,” [15] was fulfilled in the case of my husband,
for, about this time, he had another vision, which I shall
here relate; this, with one more, is all of his that I shall
obtrude upon the attention of my readers. He received two
more visions, which would probably be somewhat interesting,
but I cannot remember them distinctly enough to rehearse
them in full. [16]
The following, which was the sixth, ran thus:
“I
thought I was walking alone; I was much fatigued, nevertheless,
I continued traveling. It seemed to me that I was going
to meeting, that it was the Day of Judgment, and that I
was going to be judged.
“When
I came in sight of the meetinghouse, I saw multitudes of
people coming from every direction, and pressing with great
anxiety towards the door of this great building; but I thought
I should get there in time, hence there was no need of being
in a hurry. But, on arriving at the door, I found it shut.
I knocked for admission and was informed by the porter that
I had come too late. I felt exceedingly troubled and prayed
earnestly for admittance.
“Presently
I found that my flesh was perishing. I continued to pray,
still my flesh withered upon my bones. I was in a state
of almost total despair, when the porter asked me if I had
done all that was necessary in order to receive admission.
I replied that I had done all that was in my power to do.
‘Then,’ observed the porter, ‘justice must be satisfied;
after this, mercy hath her claims.’
“It
then occurred to me to call upon God, in the name of his
Son Jesus; and I cried out, in the agony of my soul, ‘Oh,
Lord God, I beseech thee, in the name of Jesus Christ, to
forgive my sins.’ After which I felt considerably strengthened
and I began to mend. The porter or angel then remarked that
it was necessary to plead the merits of Jesus, for he was
the advocate with the Father, and a Mediator between God
and man.
“I
was now made quite whole and the door was opened, but on
entering, I awoke.”
The
following spring, [17] we commenced making
preparations for building another house, one that would
be more comfortable for persons in advanced life. [18]
Notes
[1] This move was just across the Connecticut
River into Vermont. It is between eight and nine miles from
the cabin site in Lebanon to the home site in Norwich.
[2] “The Vermont newspapers advertised new land in the
Genesee country [western New York] for $2 to $3 an acre”
(Bushman, Beginnings, p. 41).
[3] The year 1816 was known in New England as “the year
without a summer.” On June 8 that year, several inches of
snow fell and ice formed on the ponds. Due to the crop failures,
the next two years saw such a huge migration from Vermont,
the state would not recover from the loss for a century.
(See Bushman, Beginnings, p. 40.) This freakish weather
is thought to have been caused by the huge volcanic eruption
of Mount Tambora in Indonesia the previous year (see Bushman,
Beginnings, p. 200).
[4] Don Carlos Smith was born to the Smith
family March 25, 1816, at Norwich. This move from Norwich,
Vermont, to Palmyra, New York, likely in November or December
of 1816, was just over three hundred miles and would likely
have taken the Smiths between eight and twelve days. Lucy
now would move with eight children: Alvin, eighteen; Hyrum,
sixteen; Sophronia, thirteen; Joseph, ten; Samuel, eight;
William, five; Catharine, four; and Don Carlos, eight or
nine months old.
[5] A family just ready to move was particularly
vulnerable at the moment of taking leave. “Under ordinary
circumstances creditors knew that the scarcity of money
made collection impractical and waited patiently for credits
to balance the account. Departure was, of course, the last
opportunity to collect, and furthermore it was a time when
the family, having sold all of its possessions to obtain
cash for the trip, was most liquid.” (Bushman, Beginnings,
p. 41.)
[6] From the writings of Joseph Smith
Jr. we learn: “Although the snow was generally deep through
the country during this journey, we performed the whole
on wheels, except the first two days, when we were accompanied
by my mother’s mother, Grandmother Lydia Mack, who was injured
by the upsetting of the sleigh and, not wishing to accompany
her friends west, tarried by the way with her friends in
Vermont; and we soon after heard of her death, supposing
that she never recovered from the injury received by the
overturn of the sleigh” (Papers, p. 269). Lydia Gates
Mack died in 1818 at the home of her son Daniel in Royalton,
Vermont. Her husband, Solomon, spent his last days in Gilsum,
New Hampshire, with Solomon Jr., and died in 1820.
[7] Joseph Smith Jr.
describes the move: “We fell in with a family by the name
of Gates, who were traveling west, and Howard drove me from
the wagon and made me travel in my weak state through the
snow forty miles per day for several days, during which
time I suffered the most excruciating weariness and pain;
and all this that Mr. Howard might enjoy the society of
two of Mr. Gates’ daughters which he took on the wagon where
I should have rode. And thus he continued to do day after
day through the journey. And when my brothers remonstrated
with Mr. Howard for his treatment to me, he would knock
them down with the butt of his whip.” (Papers, p.
268.)
[8] Joseph Smith Jr.
adds this commentary: “On our way from Utica I was left
to ride on the last sleigh in the company (the Gates family
were in sleighs), but when that came up, I was knocked down
by the driver, one of Gates’ sons, and left to wallow in
my blood until a stranger came along, picked me up, and
carried me to the town of Palmyra” (Papers, pp. 268–69).
[9] Joseph Smith Jr.
describes the last part of the journey: “Howard having spent
all our funds, my mother was compelled to pay our landlords’
bills from Utica to Palmyra in bits of cloth, clothing,
etc., the last payment being made with the drops [earrings]
taken from sister Sophronia’s ears for that purpose” (Papers,
p. 269). The distance from “twenty miles west of Utica”
to Palmyra is approximately one hundred miles, about a three
days’ journey.
[10] This would be the
fall of 1817.
[11] “When first purchased by Joseph Smith, Sr., and Alvin, the
Smith farm, like much of the land in the area, was covered
with a magnificent stand of hardwood forest. Many of the
trees were from 350 to 400 years old. Maples, beech, hophornbeam,
and wild cherry dominated, interspersed with ash, oak, hickory,
and elm. This forest supported as many as 120 trees per
acre, nearly all a foot or more in diameter.
“Numerous
trees in this ancient forest grew to tremendous size. .
. . A few had diameters of 7 feet or more. . . . [Some]
likely reached massive proportions of 9 to 10 feet in diameter.
“The upper canopy of this forest . . . reach[ed] heights of more than 100
feet.” (Donald L. Enders, “The Sacred Grove,” Ensign,
April 1990, p. 16.)
[12] The Smiths could have moved into their
twenty-by-thirty-foot “snug log house” by late fall of 1818.
[13] The following story was not printed
in the 1853 version of Lucy Mack Smith’s history nor any
succeeding versions. Surely Mother Smith wanted to draw
the great contrast here between the kindnesses shown to
her and her family before Joseph’s first vision and the
mobocracy and hatred heaped upon them afterwards.
[14] This is Joseph
Smith Sr.’s third recorded dream.
[16] Because Mother
Smith did not record or could not remember her husband’s
fourth and fifth dreams, they are lost to us.
[17] These contemplations
began in the spring of 1819. Construction on this new and
larger house would not begin until 1822.
[18] Joseph Smith Sr. was, by the summer of 1819, forty-eight years
old, and Lucy was forty-four.
